After everything that had happened, I never thought I would be back here.

Sitting in a car I’d borrowed off one of the Fortitude guys, I watched the comings and goings of the quiet suburban street. Our whole plan hinged on what happened here. If I couldn’t pull this off, then what we were about to do would have all been for nothing. Revenge wasn’t sweet when there was another asshole waiting in the wings for their chance to take over. That was how the wheel kept rolling, and we kept running.

Holden was nothing but an office monkey, a washed-up agent with a shattered knee and a family to keep. He wasn’t on the front lines anymore, but he was my only way into the system.

Gambling with the people who hung me out to dry wasn’t my idea of a good time, but they were the ones who pulled the strings. King had his fingers in one of the top law enforcement agencies in the country. That had to piss off someone enough to want to cut the umbilical cord. Someone had to be a good guy in all that red tape. Someone who still believed in protecting the innocent.

But we weren’t that innocent, were we? I shook my head and focused on the street ahead. Holden would be back soon. I’d called for him at the field office, impersonating a clerk from another site, and they’d told me he’d just left for the day. Either he’d gone to a dive bar and was drowning his sorrows or he was on his way back to spend time with his precious family in his perfect white picket fence life. The life I should’ve had with Madison.

That was another time, another place. I couldn’t go back, so it was no use thinking about it. I had Sloane now. Sloane was real.

Movement across the street drew my attention. I watched Holden cross the street and approach my position, hands in his pockets. Reaching into the compartment on the driver’s side door, I pulled out my gun and set it on my lap.

Holden slid into the passenger seat and sighed, closing the door behind him. “You’re not exactly discreet, you know.”

“I wanted you to see me,” I replied, thankful he hadn’t drawn a weapon.

“And you know I can’t help you.” He eyed the gun on my lap but didn’t say anything.

“Yeah, I know. You’re just a desk guy these days.” I rolled my eyes. “Don’t patronize me, Holden. It isn’t becoming of you.”

“Then let’s cut to the chase. What do you want, Mason?”

“I’m going in,” I replied. “I’m going to finish the job I set out to do when I first went undercover.”

“You think you can take down the Hollow Men?” Holden scoffed and shook his head. “You’re insane.”

“I can, and I will.”

“So?” He stared at me. “What do you want for it?”

“Sloane and I are exonerated in exchange for King and access to his servers. The FBI will have everything they need to dismantle the Hollow Men and put away a lot of people for a very long time.” I looked at my one time partner. Life had taken us on separate journeys, and I hardly recognized him anymore. The brash, young FBI agent who’d partnered with me was gone, and a ragged and jaded man sat in his place. “This will make your career, Holden. You always were the hero type.”

“Is that all? Exoneration? You don’t want back in?”

“Why would I want back into an organization that hung me out to dry? All I want is freedom for Sloane and for me. We get what we want, you get what you want, and we disappear. End of story.”

“Can you guarantee you’ll succeed? Plenty of agents have tried, and all have wound up dead or in witness protection. Or dead in witness protection for that matter. As I see it, you’ve got a less than one percent chance of pulling this off.”

“Then it’s no skin off your nose if we fail, right? No harm, no foul. But if we succeed, we all win big. That’s a fucking good deal.”

“Win or die.” Holden shook his head. “You’ve got balls, Mason.”

I nodded. Yeah, big brass ones. We were betting everything on one roll of the dice.

“I can present your offer, but—”

“There’s no buts. This is going down. Either the FBI is on board or it isn’t.”

Holden sighed. “Exoneration? Sure.”

“I want it in writing and signed by the director by sunup.”

“And if I can’t get it?”

“Then you get nothing, and we disappear.” It was a bluff, but without the signed letter, Sloane and I would get nothing. I couldn’t let Holden know how badly we needed this deal. He had to believe we had a contingency. “This isn’t a game, Holden. It’s in or out. If the FBI doesn’t want to help us, then there are plenty of other interested parties who’d love to control an organization of this scale. Foreign, domestic…”

“All right, all right!” Holden sighed and ran his hand over his face. “Let me see what I can do.”

“Good.”

“I assume this will be the last time I see you?”

“Yeah. No offense, but I’m running on a schedule. I don’t need the system fucking it up.”

“None taken. I don’t want to particularly see you, either. You’re one dark son of a bitch, you know that? What’s the protocol then?”

“Leave the letter with the concierge at the MGM Grand,” I said. “Address the envelope to the guests of room 415. If you miss the deadline, I’ll know. If you cross me, I’ll know. If anything gets in my way, the FBI gets nothing.”

“You’re tempting fate, man,” he said with a shake of his head.

“Goodbye, Holden,” I drawled.

He opened the door and climbed out, striding away from the car. It was so easy for him. Leaving his past to rot. I would be lying if I said I trusted the guy, but when I’d known him, he’d been on the side of the law. I hoped that was still the case.

Once Holden was gone, I sent a text to Watts. It’s done.

A few moments later, I received a reply. I’ll be in touch.

Turning the key in the ignition, I started the car and headed out of Las Vegas, my eyes on my rear. Nothing followed me. It seemed my little rendezvous had gone undetected, and it felt good that something had gone right for once in my sorry life.

Making my way to the interstate, I crawled through peak-hour traffic, starting the four-hour drive back to Los Angeles…and Sloane.